Jainism is one of the world's oldest religions.
Much of its early history is not known, or has come down to us in
a form in which historical fact is difficult to distinguish from
miraculous stories. However we do know that this ancient religion
was passed on to us through the high spiritual genius of one of
the greatest religious teachers of all time, Mahavira. We must be
clear, from the start, that Mahavira was not the founder of
Jainism. What he did was to bring together in a systematic form
the beliefs and philosophy of his predecessors, preach them
widely throughout his home country, and lay the foundations of an
organized Jain 'church' with monks and nuns and lay people
following his teachings. The social order which he created has
endured to the present day.

Mahavira was not some imaginary being. He was a
real man, and we know, with reasonable certainty, that his life
on earth ended just over 2500 years ago, in 527 B.C. We know
details of his life. He was born in 599 B.C. into a family of the
ksatriya, or knightly, caste. His father, Siddhartha, was a
prince or lord, and his mother, Trisala, also came from a noble
family. His birthplace is believed to have been near the modern
city of Patna, in Bihar in north-eastern India. Although
generally referred to as Mahavira (which means 'great hero'), his
original name was Vardhamana. Until his late twenties he
doubtless led a life not very different from that of any other
young man in his level of society.

Both his parents were followers of the
religious teachings of Parsva, the 'fourfold teaching',
chaturyama dharma, abstention from violence, theft, untruth and
acquisitiveness. We should nowadays call them Jains. Parsva, who
had lived some 250 years before Mahavira, is recognize as the
twenty- third Tirthankara or prophet of Jainism. It was shortly
after his parents' death that Vardhamana, or Mahavira, decided at
the age of thirty to renounce a worldly life. He gave up all his
possessions, even his clothes, and lived for the next twelve
years a life of great hardship, training himself to endure the
pains and discomforts of the body until he became indifferent to
them. The wandering ascetic, seeking knowledge alone in the
wilder places, or in company with fellow seekers for truth, was
(and still is) an accepted figure on the edge of Indian society.
The sixth century B.C. was an era of intellectual ferment, an
exciting period for a young man of inquiring spirit, when various
groups were searching beyond the bounds of the rather rigid
religious orthodoxy of the time. The best-known individual, at
least in historical perspective, was the Buddha, a near
contemporary of Mahavira. Some of the earlier Western scholars
who encountered Jainism did not distinguish it from Buddhism (for
there are some similarities, as well as very marked differences)
and even confused the persons of Mahavira and the Buddha.
Mahavira persevered with this austere life style, marked by long
spells of fasting and other penances, and by deep meditation. At
last, during one period of meditation by the side of a river, he
came to a comprehension of the whole nature and meaning of the
universe. This total knowledge, omniscience, keval jnana; is very
important to Jainism. Most of us have had the experience, at some
time, of puzzling over something we do not quite understand,
when, suddenly, almost as though a cloud clears, we get a flash
of understanding and we see the solution to our problem. Can we
imagine this flash of understanding spreading out, clearing the
clouds over not just our small problem but all the problems of
the universe, giving us an understanding of the whole nature and
workings and meaning of the universe? This is what happened to
Mahavira. And it can happen, and has happened, to other people as
well. This total knowledge does not come easily: for Mahavira, as
we have seen, it was the result of years of austerity and
meditation. This was the fourth of the five great events of
Mahavira's life which are celebrated by Jains today: his
conception, birth, renunciation, and now enlightenment. The fifth
great event, nirvana or moksa came thirty years later.

During these thirty years Mahavira,
strengthened by his knowledge, spread his message among the
people. He spoke in the language of the region, Ardhamagadhi, not
in the classical Sanskrit of the scholars, and the oldest Jain
scriptures are preserved in that language. Some people, men and
women, were inspired to give up all possessions and become monks
and nuns. Others were unable to go that far but followed
Mahavira's teachings without giving up their homes and families
and work.

Mahavira taught a scientific explanation of the
nature and meaning of life and a guide as to how we should behave
to draw this real nature and meaning into our own life. We must
start with three things. First, we must have RIGHT FAITH , we
must believe in truth. Second, we must have the RIGHT KNOWLEDGE,
we must study to understand what life is all about. Third, we
must follow RIGHT CONDUCT, the conduct which our faith and
knowledge show us to be correct. These are the 'three jewels',
ratnatraya. of Jainism.

RIGHT FAITH is perhaps the hardest of all.
Nobody can tell us what we can believe, but we can look at the
message of Mahavira and believe that he really did know what he
was talking about and that his message makes sense.

Mahavira's message contains the basis of RIGHT
KNOWLEDGE. Life is a puzzle. Where did we come from before birth?
Where do we go after death? Nobody's life is completely and
totally happy, but why do some people have lives of great misery
and others have much joy? Mahavira teaches us that this is not
the result of the whims of some distant god. No, each one of us
is what we have made ourselves by our actions in this life and in
previous lives. Every individual (and not only humans, but
animals and plants) is basically a pure spirit or soul (jiva is
the Jain word for it) which is capable of complete knowledge and
complete freedom. But by our actions and thoughts we have, as it
were, covered this pure spirit with the gross material of karma
which obscures our knowledge and limits our freedom and ties us
down to one life after another. Although we may have a lot of
happiness in life we also, all of us, have a great deal of
unhappiness. We want to know the way in which we can get rid of
the restrictions of karma and gain the state of complete
knowledge and glorious freedom which is known as moksa or
nirvana. Although this may be a very long, very slow process for
most of us, over countless lives, Mahavira teaches us how to make
a start in freeing ourselves from the restrictions and miseries
of karma.

So we come to RIGHT CONDUCT. Strength of
passions is the worst thing, passions of violence and desire and
possession. The most important principle which runs through the
whole of Mahavira's attitude of life is ahimsa. This is usually
translated as 'non-violence', but it goes beyond that and really
means the greatest possible kindness to all living things. This
is the first and fundamental rule which we should try to follow,
to get rid of violence in all our actions and even in our
thoughts. Yes, in our thoughts as well, for violent thoughts can
be potentially as harmful as violent deeds.

Mahavira's teachings, if faithfully followed,
have two results. Firstly, they produce a better society for
every creature to live in, and secondly, they enable the
individual to improve his or her own inner feelings and
character. So, following on from ahimsa, we are taught to be
truthful and honest, to create both individuals and a society in
which lies and theft, and general insecurity, are absent. Lies
and theft are the result of our passions and possessiveness. True
peace and harmony in society and in the individual are possible
only if we can restrain our passions and desires. So Mahavira
tells us to reduce our longing for the things of the world, for
material possessions and for sexual activities. We can never have
real peace of spirit so long as we are constantly seeking more
and more possessions and pleasures.

These then are the five rules of conduct which
Mahavira taught, non-violence, truthfulness, no stealing, non-
acquisition and control of sexual desires. It is a hard program
and not everybody can follow it all at once. So Mahavira set up a
society in which some people, monks and nuns, try to follow his
program as far as is humanly possible. Others, ordinary lay
people, men and women, do not give up their homes and jobs and
families, but they try as far as possible in the circumstances of
daily life to follow the five rules of conduct. While the monk or
nun can take precautions to avoid harm even to the tiniest living
creature, the rule of non-violence must mean something less for
ordinary people caught up in the ordinary business of our lives.
A monk or nun can give up all possessions and seek no more: for
most of us non-acquisition must mean trying to reduce our craving
for possessions and the pleasures of the world. Monks and nuns
can go very much further than married men and women in subduing
their attachment to sex.

Mahavira taught his message for thirty years
until his life on earth ended and he passed on to that state of
complete freedom and bliss and peace which we call moksa. For
most of us moksa is a very long way away. But he taught us how we
can approach it ourselves by rules which lead to inner peace and
harmony inside ourselves and outward peace and harmony in human
society. He taught more than that, a democratic organization in
the society which he set up, with all men and women playing their
part and with no barriers of class or caste. He also taught
tolerance and an appreciation that things can be seen from more
points of view than one. Above all he taught that we ourselves
produce our own fate by our own actions and emotions: we should
not look outside for some god to praise or blame or ask for
favors. When we honor Mahavira we do not ask him for present
help, but we meditate on his example and teachings and seek to
draw the real meaning of these into our own life and spirit.

This is the essence of Mahavira's teachings.
Jainism is one of the world's oldest religions: the modern Jain
may well see it as scientific, practical and fitted for the
modern world.